Greta Thunberg in Davos: The house is still burning – knowledge

“Have you heard, Greta is here”: This sentence could be heard on every corner on Thursday morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Spaniards at the next table had noticed, the Italians at the coffee bar, the Nigerians in the queue in front of the cloakroom. No wonder: every time the Swedish climate activist has spoken in Davos, the powerful of the world have been prepared for something. Many here still remember their brilliant “Our house is on fire” speech in 2019.

Thunberg will not be giving a speech this year. Nevertheless, she makes serious accusations against the participants of the World Economic Forum. At a press conference, she accused business and political elites of putting “greed” and “short-term economic gains above people and above the planet.” The World Economic Forum is dominated by the very people who are driving the destruction of the planet.

Together with the climate activists Luisa Neubauer from Germany, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda and Helena Gualinga from Ecuador, she wrote an open letter and they are promoting it in Davos. In it, the young women call for the immediate end of fossil-based expansion. More than 900 000 people have already signed the letter. “There can be no new fossil projects and no fossil expansions, not even from coal mines, by the way,” says Neubauer. However, the industry itself will not point the way. “Someone else has to say: Enough is enough.”

The four climate activists Thunberg, Nakate, Gualinga and Neubauer (from right to left) together with Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency.

(Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP)

In Davos, a number of the important and powerful side with Neubauer and Thunberg. Of course, that’s not enough for them, both of them keep emphasizing that it takes action and not words. And yet it is remarkable how much space climate protection now occupies in Davos. Chancellor Olaf Scholz dedicates large parts of his speech to it, and it is also the dominant topic for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres here in Davos.

John Kerry is the clearest. He still trusts Germany to meet the 1.5-degree target, says US President Joe Biden’s climate commissioner. “Globally, however, we are currently heading towards two and a half degrees,” says Kerry. “We urgently need to change that.” However, he believes that the commitment and the absolute will were missing, Kerry says. Ikea CEO Jesper Brodin sits with him on stage. “1.5 degrees is not a goal,” he says, “that’s a planetary limit.”

Everyone here is aware of the ambivalence about the climate

In Davos you don’t even notice that much of this planetary limit in this week of January. It snows almost every day, the participants trudge around in heavy boots or suit shoes with spikes buckled on, at least every second person complains about the temperatures of up to minus eight degrees during small talk. Everyone here is aware of the ambivalence of this event with regard to the climate, of course, as it is also discussed year after year. It is obvious that a lot of emissions are generated when 2,700 participants from 130 countries fly in (the fewest drive). And yet people, who of course do not want to be quoted publicly, manage to downplay the effects on the climate. “I do speed dating here, meet 25 important people in two days, for whom I would otherwise have to travel the world for three months,” says a German top manager.

Germany’s special representative for international climate policy in the Federal Foreign Office, Jennifer Morgan, who is representing her boss Annalena Baerbock (Greens) at the World Economic Forum, explains that she has been coming to Davos for years, especially during the time when she was the world leader of the environmental protection organization Greenpeace. Simply because it is important to be where the decision-makers are. On stage with John Kerry, she expresses her appreciation for “Fridays for Future”. “We have a very active youth movement in Germany and around the world, which is incredibly important,” she says. And even more important: This will not go away anytime soon, will not fall silent. Not even in Davos.

(This text is from the weekly Newsletter climate friday you here for free can order.)

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